Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Writing Our Memories

It's been interesting to read your entries in the guest book about today's earlier post.

Sue reminded us that these will be the good ol' days in 10-20 years. She also bemoaned the fact that she doesn't have wonderful penmanship anymore. I can certainly relate to that; in fact, the only time I write in cursive these days is when I'm autographing a Chicken Soup book. And even when I do that, I realize I've forgotten how to make most of the letters. Scary!

Pam mentioned 8-track tapes. Do you remember those? You'd be right in the middle of your very favorite song when all of a sudden the music would fade, you'd hear a clunk or two and then there'd be silence for a while until the music eventually resumed. I must say, it didn't do a whole lot to enhance the listening experience.

But hey, we didn't know any better. It was just so cool to think that we were actually listening to music out in our cars. We were no longer stuck inside the house with the record player. (Which is of course, another musical antique.)

Pam also mentioned carbon paper. Good ol' carbon paper. Once again, it seemed like such a fabulous invention at the time but I don't even want to think about the nasty challenges involved in getting all the paper and carbons lined up perfectly; I don't think I ever did get it done just right.

And Wyatt wrote that e-mail and blogs are already becoming "dated" technology. Yikes! My favorite technology is now dated! What does that say about me? (Don't answer that.) But then he summed it up well when he added that we should, "Use the tool that works best for our life element." Good advice.

I don't care if I AM a bit old-fashioned; I just can't bring myself to Twitter about my life because I can't imagine Twittering about anything that would be remotely interesting to anyone. So it looks like it's dated technology for me! In fact you can call me The Dated Technology Chick, if you'd like. I don't mind.

How about you? Any memories you'd like to share with the rest of us about first computers, cell phones, or CD players? Or stories about using something that is no longer in use? For some of you readers with a few more years behind you, you can probably even tell stories about remembering when you first got electricity!

I just love reading people's memories and I think that regardless of what new technology comes along, writing our memories will always be in style.

9 Had Something To Say (Just click here!):

Anonymous said...

My good friend is an elementary school teacher. She mentioned pay phones to her class one day and most of the kids didn't even know what a pay phone was! All the kids have cell phones now! It makes you wonder what we'll have 20 years from now...

Traci
Hunker, PA

Nicole said...

What about the ditto machines with the purple ink....I remember those!

Lyndsay said...

I graduated with my Master's degree in 1999. It doesn't seem like THAT long ago to me! Our building was home to 3 faculties (probably about 450 students plus staff) and we shared one computer lab with about 16 computers in in. Only 2 of the computers had an internet connection. When I had to do research for my classes, I went to the LIBRARY! And looked at BOOKS and PERIODICALS! There was no Google.. or maybe there was, but we didn't know about it. I called my parents once a week because long-distance phone calls were EXPENSIVE! We wrote LETTERS!
Teehee... makes me feel old...

Beth K. said...

Hi there!
Love the NEW site. I have been off spending time with the fam these past few days and missed your "GRAND Opening". So sorry. All this reminiscing has been wornderful -- the ditto machines - sure did love to smell those fresh off the press! ha ha

Have a good day!!!

Beth
Bakersfield, CA

Anonymous said...

I love the new site. Good job, Becky! I've been reading everyday but just figured out how to leave a comment!

Debbie Taylor
Charlotte, NC

Anonymous said...

I think Fox News has been reading your blog...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,515647,00.html

(If the link doesn't work, you might have to copy and paste)

Traci
Hunker, PA

Sue G said...

Okay, I remember recording voices on REEL to REEL recorders! And the old grainy black and white movies we took (I think they came in both 8 and 16 mm?) with real (or reel, hah) film. Brownie Starflash camera, the pride of my youth. And, of course, having to boil baby bottles and warm them on the stove because there were no such things as microwaves. Black and white tv's. Having to be present to actually watch a tv show because there was no video recorder, DVD recorder, or Digital recorders. Eating tv dinners on tv trays in front of the tv for special nights like when Ed Sullivan had the Beatles on. And for my last foray into technology archives, I remember taking my daughter's girl scout troop to see a real computer. It was in a building, taking up a huge room that had to kept at a very cold temp. And it worked with IBM cards that had holes punched in them.

Okay, I'm older than dirt. But at least I don't remember the Edsel.

Cheese Lady said...

Our first microwave in the early 70's was HUGE, half the size of an oven and we had to stand an arms length away from it!!

otis said...

Becky, love your new blog can't wait to read more about your wonderful family